TO: OCDC Members

FROM: Max Ruckdeschel, OCDC Chair

RE: Proposed Rule Change to be voted on at the February 23rd Meeting

​

For too long, Democratic Party organization and voter turnout in the City of Syracuse has been far below what it should be. After discussing this situation at length with our current ward chairs and executive committee, I am proposing that we reorganize how OCDC is structured in the City of Syracuse.

Currently, we are organized around ward boundaries. These lines were drawn over a century ago, in many cases around neighborhoods that no longer exist. The wards vary in size from 2 to 19 EDs, leaving some committees with 4 members and others with 38. This variability makes it very difficult to organize all over the city and leaves many OCDC members feeling isolated or left out.

Instead of these antiquated boundaries, I am proposing that the city be organized around the Common Council districts that were approved after the last Census. These non-partisan district lines were created by the city's new citizen redistricting commission that many of us worked very hard to put in place. While the current wards will still exist, instead of meeting as 19 ward committees of widely varying size, we will organize as 5 district committees of equal population. 

Each district committee will be able to have monthly meetings, and enough active members to help energize and activate Democratic voters in the City of Syracuse. Each will also have a chair, vice-chair, and secretary, offering multiple leadership opportunities for committee members that want to get more involved.

Even though this will only affect the City of Syracuse, our rules are adopted by the whole county committee, therefore every OCDC member is eligible to vote on this change. Also, since we are going through the process of changing our rules, our parliamentarian Colleen Gibbons has recommended some changes to the wording of the rules to address gender and refer to OCDC consistently.

To help you familiarize yourself with the change there are four documents linked here.

​

• There is a clean version of the new proposed rules along with a red-lined version of the changes.
   

• There is also a spreadsheet of each ED and committee member, listing which new district committee you will be a part of.
   

• Finally there is a map of Syracuse with the five new districts shown and each ED listed under its new committee.